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Prussian Army
The '''Prussian Army '''was the armed forces of the Kingdom of Prussia, founded in 1701 by Friedrich I of Prussia. They were famed as some of Europe's best-trained troops, thanks to the reforms of Frederick the Great. History When Prussia was founded in 1701 by Friedrich of Brandenburg, it required an army to act as its self-defense force, primarily against the ominous threats of the Holy Roman Empire, Russia, and Poland-Lithuania. Via researching a superior military doctrine at Magdeburg, Friedrich I made the Prussian army into an effective fighting force that was first tested in the Great Polish War against the Polish. After his death in 1715, Friedrich's son Friedrich Wilhelm began to relentlessly drill the Prussian army and made it into an effective fighting force ready to wage war in the rest of Europe. Prussia's first major war was the War of the Austrian Succession from 1740 to 1748. The Prussian king Frederick the Great, taking advantage of his father's reforms, used his tactical genius and his soldiers' fighting capabilities to conquer Silesia from Austria and win the war. Sixteen years later, during the Seven Years' War, the Prussian Army was tested again in its war with Austria and a coalition of other European nations such as France, and although they suffered a series of defeats such as Kolin and Kunersdorf, Prussia won the war in 1763 and took control of Saxony. They also partitioned Poland in 1791 with the Austrians and Russians, and Warsaw became one of their largest cities. A year later, Prussia was tried by the French Republic in the French Revolutionary Wars at the September 1792 Battle of Valmy, in which Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick's large army was convinced to withdraw after a mere exchange of artillery fire. By 1795 Prussia had made peace with France, but in 1806 would fight them again in the Napoleonic Wars. They were crushed in the Fourth Coalition but in 1814 gained more lands during their campaign against France in the Sixth Coalition. After the war, Prussia reformed further to prevent disasters from occurring again, and they began to use Dreyse Needle-Guns and better artillery and breach-loading firearms. Although they were defeated in the 1848 First Schleswig War, they conquered the Duchy of Holstein as well as Schleswig in 1864 from Denmark and two years later they conquered all of Germany (apart from Austria and Hungary) in the Seven Weeks War with Austria. This war also gave Italy the chance to unify by capturing Venetia from Austria. After this war, Prussia was ready to take on France, and exact their revenge. Allied with a confederation of German city-states, Prussia won almost every battle and brought down the Second French Empire, and they won much loot plundered from the countryside. In 1871, the Prussian army was reformed into the Imperial German Army when the German Empire was formed out of the German confederation and Prussia's unity. Gallery Prussian general.png|Prussian general Prussian army 1700s.png|Prussian troops, 1701 Prussian troops.png|Prussian troops in the Napoleonic Wars Prussian general 2.png|1800s Prussian general Prussian troops Jena-Auerstedt.png|Prussian troops at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt Category:Miscellaneous Category:Prussian units Category:Units Category:Armed forces